people are focused on our economy and they're asking the question where are the jobs. >> mitt romney and republicans are going to get their wish at least for today. president obama will turn his focus back to the economy in the visit to the battle ground state of nevada today. but don't expect the talk of equality to go completely silent. the visit to nevada coming up as that state is embroiled in the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. and when speaking yesterday after marriage equality, this at two star studded west coast fund raisers. >> no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, no matter what your last name, no matter who you love. [ applause ] >> joining me now for today's political power panel are mar o marjio marro, and patricia

murrety. welcome to you. glad you're here. patricia, i'm going to go to you first because you were the last to get seated and micced up. the president spoke at the big fund raiser at actor george clooney's house. he said yesterday we made news but it was an extension of what america is supposed to be. there was speculation that hedging on this issue damaged the obama brand. do you think the white house is in repair mode or has it already succeeded. >> i think with this group in particular they've already succeeded. this group was waiting for the president and they were very frustrated with the president he hadn't come out sooner. i do think his hand was forced by vice president joe biden when he came out with his own comments. but just hearing the president say every american should be able to get married to whom ever

they choose, they are predisposed to like him already. he's repaired those relationships by now. >> okay. there's been a lot of discussion about the role of vice president biden in all this, having been the catalyst if you will. his son spoke out about this. let's see what he said. >> my dad spoke about an important issue. about civil rights. i'm proud of what he said. i'm even more proud about what the president of the united states said. >> the white house is also saying on wednesday at some point joe biden personally apologized to the president because of forcing his hand. but was that necessary? >> i think ultimately the rollout of this is an insider game, it's an insider conversation. and it's inside with the white house and those who follow the white house and watch this closely. for swing voters, ultimately it's the contrast between the two presidential candidates and however much you think he doesn't want to talk about this

issue, mitt romney really doesn't want to talk about this issue. the president feels more comfortable talking about this than mitt romney who can't get traction on these issues and has a discomfort. >> let's talk about campaigning here. the obama campaign is using the president's endorsement to draw a comparison with mitt romney. here's the new ad from the campaign. check this out. >> as with anything, robert, what one campaign feels they have a winning strategy and something to go with, it can get overplayed. does the president risk that here? >> a little bit. look, as a gay american who's out, obviously the president is on the right side of history with this. i need to say that. but there's two things to distinguish here. this is his personal view. there's nothing that's going to change from a federal

standpoint. he's got to be careful in raising people's expectations too much. again, there's nothing federally that's going to change here. i have to say this because it's the obvious issic it's ironic but also in a good way that he is taking cheney's stance on this is where he personally believes they should be able to marry but it should be up to the states. >> listen to this. >> i hope the issue as tender and sensitive as the marriage issue is is not a source of fund raising for either of us. >> they're focusing on the fund raising element. is this now what the romney campaign will focus on will there be a republican argument against the president's evolution? >> all the republicans want to do is get back to the economy. they say the president has their own reasons, they're probably political, that's what republicans say. we're focused on what americans

are focused on. it's true the americans are most focused on the economy. this ask going to be an election about jobs and the economy. for romney it's going to be a tactic. they like the president more but they might trust romney more on the economy. i think the republicans want to focus solely on the economy between now and november. that's how they dismiss every other issue and get back to the issue they want to talk about. >> i'm going to get to -- go ahead robert except i want to ask you something being you're the out republican, if you will. speaker boehner had tried to turn the political situation and to the economy yesterday. listen to what he said. >> i believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. and the president, the democrats, can talk about this all they want. but the fact is the american people are focused on our economy and they're asking the question where are the jobs. >> are republicans, robert,

afraid to take on the social issues because by most accounts, they are in the minority across this country. so they can look at these social issues as being like quick sand. is that why they want to focus on the economy? >> well, i'm not sure that's entirely accurate. look. the bottom line is i think most americans out there, the latest poll i saw, majority saying we don't a care who you sleep with, we don't care what faith you worship. what we care about is the economy. please make sure you work together to get this economy moving again. that's the most important issue when it comes to the polls. that's the most important issue when you look at 8.2% unemployment. that is the number one issue that earn manies really care about and feel passionate about and they want the president and republican leaderships to focus on. it's not about gay marriage, abortion, or the social issues. it's about the economy. that's exactly what republicans are saying. that's exactly what the american people are begging people to listen to.

>> so what do you think, margie? with the democratic convention in north carolina, is this going to be a platform based on just the economy or are we going to hear all about the social issues like lgbt equality and gay rights and the like? >> i think you're going to hear about all of that. and how they're related. you're going to hear about women's issues and the contrast between the candidates. it means that president obama is about moving forward. and when you look at gay marriage in particular but a whole host of other issues, nothing emphasizes forward as much as this difference. >> can you categorize in a priority. the number one thing on the agenda. >> i think it's going to be about who has a better vision to get the country continuing on the right track. obama -- under obama's administration. there's been 4.2 million new private sector jobs. and romney says whatever obama does he's going to do the opposite of that. so i guess he's the opposite of

making sure there's mandatory maternity coverage and those things that people like. >> all right. always a good chat with all three of you. thank you so much. developing news this hour on the two young tennessee girls rescued by police after their kidnapping fatally shot himself. they will hold a conference in is few hours to talk about adam mays. after the fbi had placed him on the ten most wanted list. he shot himself as they closed in on him. mays had been charged with first degree murder in the deaths of joe an bain and her daughter adrian. those girls were found suffering from dehydration and exposure. they were released from a hospital earlier this morning. >> thank god that the little girls were safe. i think really that maybe he done it to have possession of

the two children that he claimed were his biological children. they were not his children. >> i'm joined now by michelle segona. while these girls are physically okay, think of the horrors they've gone through. losing their mother and sister. he was holed up in the woods for three days. what was he doing? do we know about the last days with the girls? >> we do know that a tip led investigators out. that's when mayes held the gun up to his head and pulled the trigger. he was pronounced dead. the two girls were safefully recovered. they were dehydrated and had poison ivy. they were treated and released. they are physically okay. but as you mentioned, this is

going to be a very long road for them dealing with the loss of their mom, their sister. this entire kidnapping ordeal for almost the last two weeks. we can only imagine anything else that has happened to them. >> with his death, does that close the investigation? >> not by far. you still have the wife and mom. the wife murder and kidnapping charges. we're going to move forward in that portion of the investigation. you have to figure out where he's been and how this took place. you have an alleged murder that happened in one state. a trailer according to the affidavit that i read, that was rented, bodies were put the that. brought across state lines and buried in a back yard. i mean, there's a lot to sort of figure out and uncover. a lot of mistakes made along the way on his part. >> you look at something like this and have to ask why. what was the motivation here? any motive?

>> we heard from his mother-in-law that allegedly he thought that those girls were his. we don't exactly why he wanted to kidnap them or what he thought about all of that. you know, there apparently is at long history here. as far as an exact motive, how the mom and the other daughter were killed, we just don't know yet. so there will be a lot that i'm sure will be uncovered under the next few days. but great job to law enforcement working so quickly and so precisely and to be able to move on to him and rescue these girls. >> indeed. michelle sigona, thank you. $2 billion gone, poof, just like that. how jpmorgan made such a huge mistake. plus that george clooney fund raiser raised a cool $15 million for his president's re-election campaign. chris hayes is up on a friday morning. chris joins me next.

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president obama is upping the ante when it comes to campaign cash. this is thanks to hollywood. last night's dinner with george clooney raised almost $15 million according to the head of dreamworks. that is better than mitt romney. this is in one night. joining me is chris hayes. good to see you. >> great to see you. >> let's talk about all this speculation that had been out there that the democrats would have trouble keeping up with the gop. is the president reminding us he's the president of the united

states and with that comes an amount of clout. >> that's been true historically. rick's piece in the new york times magazine about the way that wall street has fallen out of love with barack obama does highlight challenges they have. the first is mitt romney is a creature of finance and wall street. he ran a private equity for years and has been getting money from that sector. also a small amount of people could bank roll him. among other sectors and hollywood is one of them. >> and you've got to wonder, out of what played $40,000 a plate for this dinner. outside of hollywood, does the president have trouble doing these big hall donations? >> well, right now the affiliated super pac has lagged far, far, far behind the romney super pac. and that i think is genuinely a cause of concern in the white house and democrats because there is a sense that the amount of money that's going to flow

into those super pac coffers on the republican side is going to be unprecedented. wrote to gingrich to a campaign everyone knew was doomed. that was $50 million down the drain. if he can do that to the person he knows will lose, imagine what he can give to someone who will actually be the president of the united states. >> let's talk about one of the glee cocreators, he is openly gay. he's going to host a fund raiser for the president next month. but what the president did this week by talk about marriage equality, the white house says in the wake of that, instantly instarted pouring the donations. is this an avenue to tap into? >> absolute already was an avenue. there's or t there's no question that the amount of money there is to be

raised amongst gay donors is there. and there's no question this is going to move him going forward. >> the campaign what i love, it's so interesting when they're getting interested in money now. the campaign is saying the president will tweet your mom a happy mother's day message for a price. obviously it's a fund raising tool. how cool is that? do you think that's the thing you'll see getting creative. >> because they're going to have to raise a lot of money in small dollar donations, they have to come up with new ways to incentivize that. we've all accepted basically the way we raise money for campaigns these days. and i think it's easy to lose sight of how strange it is. it almost feels like it's a commercial raffle. right? like if you give enough money, your mom might be tweeted by the

president of the united states. it makes me think that there might be better ways of raising money for campaigns. >> if you have creative thoughts, pass them along. yeah or do it on the show. i'm sure they're listening. we'll see you tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern. be sure to catch the show. it is 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and sunday as well on "up with chris hayes." well, the prosecution rests its case in the edwards case without hearing rielle hunter. plus why michele bachmann dropped her dual citizenship with switzerland. [ female announcer ] it figures...on your busiest day

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look at the dow up almost over 52 points now. but jpmorgan points, that is down more than 7%. it is off the lows this morning. mary thompson is joining us live now. so, mary, in terms of what happened here, this is a big loss thanks to a single trader they call the london whale. really? $2 billion thanks to one trader's risky moves? >> i think we need to clarify a couple things. it was not only one trader. the bank had said in a conference call, there were a number of people involved in this. this was a trade put on four years ago to protect the company in the case there was a big credit event. they started to unwind that trade. what happened is the strategy put on to unwind the trade basically got out of control. this has resulted in a trading loss. what we do want to point out, the company still expects to earn money in the quarter in large part due to other businesses so strong to make up for it. >> and chase is the bank that

really came through the banking crisis the best, right? they have been for successful overall. >> you know what? you bring up a great point there. what jpmorgan has been able to do was say we were the best risk managers at a time when the government was making the managers take the loans. jpmorgan didn't need that loan. it was the one bank thought not to need that loan. they were the best risk managers. what this proves is that there are chinks in that armor. that's the concern about the stock today. what you need to see is an overhaul of the risk management. people would say there was a prem yum built into that stock because people thought they were good risk managers. >> something interesting that came from jamie dimon, he says he doesn't see this effecting other banks. here's the quote. just because we are stupid

doesn't mean everybody else was. >> right. >> are people hearing that? >> characteristically blunt. his calls are always entertaining to say the least. a number of people, certainly there is impact on the rest of the banks because if you read the endless notes people do think this is a jpmorgan specific problem. the concern now becomes do politicians or critics of the big banks use this as another bludgeon. with the risky, non-transparent trades they have, this hard to understand business. is it time to peel back those layers, make it simpler again. would that be a better way or a better means for the financial system and investors who have to be stunned right now because a lot of them probably never knew they had a trade this risky on the books. >> which makes a good. thanks so much. >> sure thing. >> we'll have more of all this

when jamie dimon join eed david gregory. the first lady is addressing students at virginia tech today. should politics play a role? plus new details on al qaeda's alleged suicide bomber turned informant for the u.s. and details on how it went down. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes...

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virginia tech today. she's at north carolina there. and tomorrow the president delivers an address monday. joe biden's wife will be in iowa. and mitt romney tomorrow. why college commencements, melissa? is this a political two for one? go to a battle ground state and reach out to youth there. is that what this is about? >> it's not exactly reaching out to the youth vote in terms of the students in the audience. the students rarely hear the commencement address. they are too excited. this is really a moment for them and their families celebrating their achievements. so there's really another audience that these candidates and presidents and first ladies are speaking to. and that's, you know, we go and look at -- we televise these speeches as a way of understanding how are these candidates speaking about the future that these young people

will enter. it's kind of their opportunity to set out a broad future vision. and it's a nice opportunity to compare what those future visions look like. >> okay. and with the first lady speaking at two -- she has two commencement addresses there. is that due to her popularity and her ability to reach out as the first mom to these kids? >> certainly that's part of it. a first lady is always a great opportunity for a commencement address. but i want to point out in particular that when she speaks at north carolina ant, they have an important african-american civil rights history. it was students from there that were part of the citizens. was a site of a civil rights riot in the 1960s. and so she will undoubtedly in the face of the president's discussion about marriage equality and the north carolina amendment one vote, i suspect

that part of what she may try to do is try to link the histories of civil rights that occurred right there at amt with this broader civil rights movement for gay and lesbian americans. it's a real opportunity to speak to that constituency. >> and mitt romney's scheduled to speak at liberty university tomorrow. is campaign released text of the speech this morning. in it he sticks. overall do you think he uses this economic message to appeal to these young people, their bank accounts, the ability to put money into the bank accounts, and get jobs. >> this is more symbol over substance. it isn't what he says it's that he's at liberty. and that he's trying to shore up that extremely conservative right wing of the party. and liberty university is kind of the institutional college example of that.

> okay. than thanks for weighing in. you can catch her show every saturday and sunday at 10:00 a.m. here on msnbc. john edwards defense attorneys right now are asking the judge to throw out the corruption case. the defense says prosecutors have failed to prove that edwards intelligencely violated any laws. joining me now is professor of law. good day to you. this trial has been going more than a couple weeks now. the jury is not in the court. can you put perspective on what's happening today? edwards is on trial for using campaign funds. not whether he's a liar or adulter adulterer. those have been proven. >> they're asking to take the case out. the jury really is part of the democratic system. the judge is probably going to give it to the jury, let it

decide. >> what about what prosecutors did yesterday. they ended the case by showing the nightline interview with edwards where he admitted to his affair but denied he was the father of the child. he claimed he didn't know of any money being used to hide her. how can they believe anything that john edwards says? >> it was a good prosecution move. they needed to end on a high note, and they did. and the jury got to see john edwards in his own words. and they got to also watch john edwards watching john edwards live. it was a good ending. and it left a bad taste in the jury's mouth, i'm sure, about john edwards. like a garlic sandwich. it's going to be up to the defense to take that away. >> that's going to stink, that's for sure. what about rielle hunter? what is the likelihood she'll be called by the defense? she wasn't called by the prosecution. >> the defense is going to have to make some very tactical

decisions. will she help them in the campaign contribution issue? they very well may not call her. >> how about john edwards? will he testify for himself? >> he may believe he's the best lawyer in the room and want to take the stand. lawyers are usually worst witnesses. defense probably would want him off the stand. >> steven, he was openly crying in court when there was the testimony about the last days of his wife elizabeth. do you think there's anything about him that he could portray himself as a sympathetic figure? >> the problem is the jury saw this videotape where he said he wanted to tell the truth and he wasn't. there's too much comparison there for the jury and the jury in all likelihood will not believe him. it'll be a field day for the prosecution on cross examination. >> all right. thank you so much.

well, here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news now. recovering cleanup now underway at a south texas high school after a tornado ripped through the area last night. the force was strong enough to blow this papa john's pizza truck on its side. it was parked outside a high school as a fund raiser was happening inside. >> you could see the walls moving. you could see the trophies moving off the walls and falling. it was like the walls were just shaking. it was scary moment. >> eight people inside that truck were treated for minor injuries. no students were hurt. but there is major damage to the school's football and soccer fields. officials say the government is finally spoken to the woman at is the center of the sex scandal that rocked the secret service a month ago. investigators interviewed dania suarez at the embassy in madrid yesterday. officials have been trying to track down the escort ever since she accused a secret service agent of trying to get out of paying her for services. >> new fallout from last year's

tragic hazing death of a florida a&m band member. band director has resigned. that band is also currently suspended. last week 13 people were arrested in connection with the death of robert champon. champion died aboard a band bus last september. the vatican is now looking into priests for alleged sexual abuse and other crimes. the order operates worldwide. its founder who died in 2008 had been long held up by the vatican despite accusations he sexually assaulted his seminaryians. new details this morning on the double agent who helped disrupt an al qaeda bomb plot in yemen. nbc news has learned the spy is

a british national. he's of middle eastern origin. played a crucial role in recruiting that spy who has not been named. the bomb meant for that attack was made by al qaeda's top bomb maker al asiri. nbc news chief is here. thanks for being here. >> good to be hear. >> let's talk about this guy's specialty. al-asiri. they don't have metal in them which makes them how hard to detect? >> it's a very difficult detection problem. and one of the issues that the u.s. is looking at at the bomb in quantico, virginia, the fbi labs. is just whether this can get through the current tsa technology. the early read is that it would be detected. but it may not be detected. technically it may have to be

detected beyond technically with pat downs and with other technolo technology, bomb sniffing dogs, et cetera. the question here is what is the next advance in the development of these weapons. because now there have been four of them. none of them have actually detonated. excuse me, none of them have met their intended mission. a couple of them detonated, but the problem is that each one of them appears to have been an advance on the previous one. so the u.s. is going after al-asiri right now. there were attacks yesterday in yemen in the targets. he is probably right now the most valuable target in the u.s. war on al qaeda. >> pretty scary stuff. because he is alleged to be making bombs that would be able to be placed in small devices. a camera, maybe a computer. even in household pets. and i have to tell you, my daughter heard all this all over

the news yesterday and the day before and she got terribly frightened. so whether or not al-asiri is able to pull off a bomb, just the flightening element of this is that a success? >> it's a success because it requires the u.s. to do something in response. it requires us to increase our security. it does raise the level of fear. and terrorism at its core has fear. so i think to a certain degree he has had success. but there have been four times where he has built a bomb and the bomb did not succeed at its mission. the closest it came was not the northwest airline bombing back in christmas in 2009, but two months before that when he put a bomb on his brother and sent his brother to meet the director of counterterrorism for saudi arabia. the bomb detonated. the brother was killed, but the director of counterterrorism for

saudi arabia survived with only minor burns. >> absolutely ruthless. okay. many thanks as always. >> thank you. i am not going to surrender my office to the federal government. i will fight this to the bitter end. >> that is america's toughest sheriff. joe arpaio. he's responding to the federal lawsuit filed against him. plus mtv's message to president obama and mitt romney. . challenge that. olay smooth finish facial hair removal duo. first a gentle balm then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. olay hair removal duo.

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end. they don't like the way i enforced the illegal immigration laws. that's the bottom line. they want to take control of the sheriff's office with monitors, reviews. i have to ask them before i go make an arrest. this is ridiculous. i'm the poster boy from the president down to maricopa county. >> pete williams joins us now live from washington. good day to you. basically they tried to make a deal. the justice department has filed suit now after months of negotiations. they were not able to reach a settlement over the allegations. is that what happened? >> exactly. and this lawsuit claims that sheriff arpaio actually encourages his deputies to unfairly target latinos. it says some parts of maricopa county, latino drivers are nine times as likely of being stopped on suspicion of being here legally. but those pulled over turn oud

to be legal immigrants or u.s. citizens. >> at its core, this is an abuse of a power case involving a sheriff and a sheriff's office that disregarded the constitution, ignored sound police practices, compromised public safety, and did not hesitate to retaliate against perceived critics. >> it also says the sheriff's office refuses to speak anything but english to jail inmates. it also says the sheriff has falsely arrested or sued request critics of his tactics. after months of trying to reach a settlement with arpaio, they broke down that he accept an independent monitor to check on compliance. he says in some cases he would have to check with the monitor before enforcing the law and he can't accept that.

>> we have to wonder about the viability of keeping his job. this is something -- these allegations, they've been investigating him over three years. >> that's right. he's very popular there. the concerns about him go beyond partisanship. the justice department began looking into complaints about his practices during the bush administration but he says it was only a hundred days after obama came into office that this whole thing was accelerated. and he believes that it is political. but in any event, it's up to a federal judge who has to decide whether to order the sheriff to accept these reforms that the justice department believes he should make. >> and when you say this independent monitor, this means literally somebody would be looking over his shoulder when he goes into meetings? is that being clarified? he wouldn't be able to move without someone signing off on it? >> that is obviously under dispute about what the role of the monitor would be. i can tell you that when the

justice department -- and it does this a lot -- believes they have a pattern in violating rights, this is how they're resolved. there is usually an agreement and the two sides come together and a monitor is appointed to make sure the office is following the law. in this case he claimed the monitor would have too much power. that is in dispute. >> many thanks. the network that brought "jersey shore" and the situation wants to gaming the election. it is time now for the side bar. fantasy election 2012. users will draft a fantasy team of candidates. a judge has thrown out drunk driving charges as the former head of the faa. had said he pulled him over for pulling over on the wrong side of the road. babbitt was shown making a normal left turn. rebekah brooks was grilled

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what's your policy?

in uganda, activists are fighting an anti-homosexuality bill that could include the death penalty for some offenders. frank is leading the fight against that bill. he's been named as a possible

contender for the nobel peace prize which is pretty incredible. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> talk about the situation there you face and why you had to develop this sexual minorities uganda. is it true people can be put to death for the mere suspicion of being homosexual? >> for us in uganda, it's about surviving. it's about living. it's about asking our own families, our own friends, our own people in the society to accept us to live the way anyone lives in uganda. and yeah, people could face as much as death penalty with the law we have in parliament right now is considered. >> and this is a law while you fear its passage, in some ways, you almost feel the pressures you can face just walking on the street from gangs or people who will suspect you of being gay and come after you. what has your experience been with that? >> i keep saying my biggest problem in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in uganda is the

ignorance. people can do anything to you. you don't know where the problem is going to come from. you could be in the street and get beaten. it could be your own family. you don't know where that problem is coming from. >> talk about the award you received in washington. this was given to you by ethel kennedy. >> i was given the ethel kennedy award for human rights last year. it was very inspiring. in my work and also for me as an individual. it shows that the work i'm doing is legitimate work over advancing human rights. that makes lgpt rights fit into the broad of human rights. >> perhaps the president's comments this week for his personal support of marriage equality may have a trickle-down effect in uganda. when you go back to uganda, do

you still have reason to be afraid? >> when i'm in uganda, i'm always afraid. i don't know where the challenge or the threat is going to come from. like i keep saying, i'm not so much afraid of the government itself because there you can find a way of putting in place security measures to deal with it. the challenge comes from the ordinary people who have been instilled with all this hate from religious leaders. >> we thank you for your efforts on all of this and wish you the best of luck. we'll be following you. if you get the nobel peace prize, that's incredible. >> thank you. >> i'll see you back here tomorrow morning with "weekends with alex witt." we'll talk politics with david gregory. "now with alex wagoner" is next. >> happy friday, alex w.

is high school behavior a fair gauge how a can't kate will perform as president? will it be the most lasting part of his legacy? also new york attorney general eric snyderman is here. we'll get his take on the lost billions at jpmorgan. and if it's friday, we'll take a look at what just happened. that's next when "now" begins. tt be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it.

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